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> There are three significant implications for reading the Bible relationally.

The first has to do with prayer.

The second has to do with the original sin.

The third has to do with Pentecost. by Bo Sanders

Prayer

Prayer is a relational thing. We pray for people that we know. This is a good thing. That is how it is suppose to work. We need to be praying for the people that we know.

It is tough to pray for someone you don’t know. Let’s take two examples: letters in the mail and hiring a pastor.

When a church wants to hire a pastor, they do not hold a prayer meeting and ‘discern’ a name and phone number out of thin air and then call that person and say “God told us that you are suppose to be our next pastor”. That is not how it works. They look over resumes, they do phone interviews, they call the person in for the weekend to candidate and then ‘discern’ based on relational cues.

When god lays on somebody’s heart to write an encouraging note, send a gift, or to make a phone call, it is always to somebody that we know. God works in and through relationship. If you want to send a check for $100 to help someone out, you don’t write a random name on an envelope and make up (or pray and discern) an address and then put it in the mail. You send it to someone you know – someone that you are in a relationship with. That is what God leads us to do.

Can you imagine writing a check to Jackson Bolaliber, making out the envelope to 765 Kings Highway in Jacksonville Kansas and then making up a zip code (98126) and putting it in the mail? I don’t even know if this person exists. I don’t know if Kansas has a town called Jacksonville. I don’t know if that zip code is even for Kansas or if it exists anywhere.

That is not how it works. That is not how God works. God works in relationship. God lays on our hearts to send encouragement notes to people that we know. To dial phone numbers that belong to people that we are in relationship with.

Have you ever said “God give me 10 single-digits that make up a phone number of somebody that you want me to call and encourage.” No. You call somebody that you know and encourage them. You may even be led to call them because you know of something going on in their life and that they need encouragement.

I’ve said this before, when we pray for the people of Haiti, we are not asking God to fix the situation “from Heaven” – we are a) asking God to send the people that will fix the situation and b) making ourselves available to God for whatever situation God might want to use us in.

Prayer prepares our hearts to participate with God in God’s world and work. God is relational. Therefore God’s work is relational. And thus, prayer is relational.

The original sin

I believe in the original sin. I do not believe in Original Sin. I believe in the original sin, but I do not believe in what has been the dogmatic teaching that children are born full of sin – that the cells of the body are corrupted or depraved and that unless they pray a prayer to Jesus or are baptized by a priest or belong to the right church (which is sanctioned by the State) they are “fallen” and will not go to heaven. I do not believe in that kind of original sin.

The concern over Substance (corrupted) and Status (fallen) are not the concerns of the Bible and come to us via Greek philosophy (both Platonism and Aristotelean thought).

The concern of the Bible is relationship. That is the power of the original sin – that it broke relationship. There were three types of broken relationship in the Garden of Eden narrative.

But before we get to that … and while were are on the subject – there is no such thing as the fall. Look it up. The Bible never talks about a fall. Adam and Eve did not fall. Humans are not fallen. If you look up ‘Fall’ in most biblical concordances you will see six verses listed. Not one of them uses the word fall. It was a concept – a construct- that was added later – because of philosophy.

What happened in Eden is not a fall. It is a breaking of relationship, and it impacted three things.

The first relationship that was broken was between God and humanity. They were afraid of God and they hid. The relationship was broken.

The second relationship that was broken was between between humans – some focus on the split between the genders, some on the relationship between husband and wife, I prefer to look at the simple human to human brokenness.

The story of Cain and Able illustrated the brokeness of both of these first two levels – with God and between each other.

The third relationship that was broken was between humans and the earth. It changed from a care – partnership – providing connection to a hostility (the earth to us) and domination (us to the earth).

Good News: This is what Jesus comes to restore! Jesus heals our broken relationship with God. Jesus enables us to have restored relationships with other humans around us. And Jesus brings us into a new awareness of the earth beneath us.

I draw it this way: the Circle was broken in Eden. Three circles were broken in Eden. Living in Jesus restores those broken circles – repairs the brokeness and reconnects the unity of the circle.

Living in Jesus connects the circle above us in a restored unity with God. It also connects us to those around us in the circle of community. Lastly, it connects us to the earth below so that we have restored appreciation and partnership with the dust from which we came and to which we will return.

This is the idea of Shalom. It is peace-restoration-connection-wholeness. Living in Shalom is a circle running North-South above and below and another circle running east-west connecting us to those around. This is healthy connection, mutual care and edification.

There was an original sin but there is no Original Sin. There was no Fall but there is restored relationship and connection.*

Pentecost

As long as I am laying it all out I might as well say this: reading the Bible relationally changes everything. Look at it this way – the Incarnation was Jesus taking on flesh and opening a new way for humanity to to relate to God. Jesus gives us a new relationship with God.

Many people that I know who self-identify as Christian live as if Jesus never came – reverting to a set of rules, regulations, and religious rituals.

When Jesus dies, the veil in the temple is torn in two. God’s presence comes out into the world. God is no longer kept behind closed doors and God no longer lives in buildings built by human hands. The Religious presence of God had come out into the world where the Natural presence of God had always been – but this was now in a new way.

This move came to its culmination at Pentecost and God’s spirit – the Spirit of Christ – who is Holy Spirit now indwells us as the people of God. In the Hebrew Testament God’s Spirit would fill one person at a time (like a Judge or a Prophet) for one task or a specific time. Now, after Pentecost God’s spirit resides in every believer for all time.

God is with us. God is here among us. Christ’s Spirit is at work in the world and is with you – to guide you and use you and change you.

God wants to guide you.

God wants to use you.

God wants to change you.

This is why God gave Holy Spirit to the world as a gift. We are the people of God. We are the House of God. God dwells in us each of us and among us as a community.

Conclusion

When you pray, you are not projecting your voice past the heavens and trying to get the attention of a God who lives on the other side of curtain – begging and pleading for God to ‘come down’. God already came down – and died on a cross – that is when the veil was torn in two and God’s presence came out into the world. God is here with us now. God is at work among us.

God didn’t write a best-selling book and then retire to the far corner of the universe leaving it all up to us to do what was said in the book. That book is not an instruction manual or a constitution or a rule book. It is a story. In that story God gives his own Son who dies for the world – to repair a broken set of relationship and restore us to right relationship – three new relationships. Then God gives his Spirit to the world as a gift so that we may have a new connection (Shalom) with God, a new connection (Community) with those around us, and new connection (edification) with the world that we inhabit.

* My mentor Randy Woodley has given me a wonderful understanding of Shalom and he did his Doctoral Dissertation on the Harmony Way understanding of this concept by native American communities.

>Thanks for the feedback! :)as far as the question… I would have to think that it is because of that broken thing. The hiding 'behind a fig leaf' sort of idea. The problem, and why I wanted to write this, is that we are then sold a brand of religion that tells us that the problem is actually something else and then gives us a fix/solution for that other thing – while never addressing the REAL thing !I know so many christians who live as if Jesus never came and as if there is no Holy Spirit. But those two ideas are the central themes is a relational story. What are your thoughts?

>It's amazing all of the terms you learn in church that aren't mentioned in the Bible, even when you grew up in a church that appeared to only preach from it. Interesting your take on prayer being relational. I think I must pray funny because I could see myself praying to God to just come down and fix Haiti. I don't always assume people will be used, though I think you are right, that's the way it probably usually happens. God likes to involve us.

>I love this post. I love that our prayers change us and move us forward without obviating the need for God. I love that restoration on every level is accomplished through relationship. I love that God teaches us about his nature through our earthly relationships.

>Nicely done, Bo. Over the past year I've been developing literally a "relational theology" – a theology constructed on the foundation of people I love, rather than verses I choose to favor, or doctrines I've chosen to submit myself to. It's a perilous endeavor, but no more so than choosing one of 38,000 Christian denominations in the world. God is still speaking, and God is speaking THROUGH the people around us.

>To expand: I absolutely believe our religion is one that must be based on relationship with a living God – a relationship that changes us. But I also believe we are changed as much by the people around us, both "the people of God" and, more informally, "people" who are probably still "of God" but don't claim the title…

>I wanted to thank you 4 for taking the time to respond. It was really interesting to read some different words and phrases that helped see things a little differently, or from a different angle. That was really helpful.It's funny – if you take your 4 comment's themes in order, we covered Rules, the Bible, Prayer and People. I suppose – that means ,at some level, that we are addressing the right things. Good conversation!

>ET,Thanks for the boost! Working with other people is so much more difficult than working with controllable/domesticated substance, rules and hierarchy. I especially like your discussion of original sin – this can totally change our view of childhood and parenthood. Thanks!-John

>Bo, very nicely stated. You are correct in saying that this is what should be considered the normative experience for us as Christians, and "normative" is not being used in the negative here. It is helpful to remind everyone that this is what we should expect from God in general, instead of praying lofty, meaningless prayers, and developing a posture of supplication that sounds like "God, please send someone else, I'm terribly busy/strapped for Ca$h/insert excuse here". I think the best part about this essay is that it takes some of the "spiritualization" and "mystery" out of our relationship with God, fellow people, and the world in which we live. The essay takes away those levels of separation that have been built by human culture which ultimately lead well-meaning, "good" people to inaction in God's world. Well stated. I am, however, nervous about saying this is the ONLY way God works. Remember, God is not predictable. He is the "Elusive Presence". He does what he wants. While we should expect the things stated in your essay as "how it works", we should live in relationship with this Elusive God and see what else He might do. Do I believe He could give someone a phone number of a stranger who He wants to reach? Yes, I believe he could, and HAS done this. Do I think that anyone should expect this as a normative experience? No, I do not. I think someone should expect from God exactly what your essay outlines. And above all, staying connected to the Elusive Presence of God is the key. Again, that is… …drum roll… …RELATIONSHIP! Thanks for the "tag" on facebook. Great note! The Blog looks really nice. Is there still going to be a podcast?

>John – thanks for thoughts. IF we did go down this line of reasoning (and I hope that we do – cuz the next 50 years looks to be a wild time in global shifts) I would LOVE to hear people flesh out (pun intended) thoughts on the implications to marriage-parenthood-childhood stuff and maybe even integrate it into psychology (like early childhood education). That would be great. Nathan – I get what you are saying about leaving it open. I can do that. I was just being a little more descriptive than prescriptive (though I was being partially prescriptive). I just want people to stop trying to talk God into "coming down" and partner with the God has already come down and is who already here. And though I think it is possible to call a stranger on the phone – I just want people to call and encourage those that they already know! A morning prayer of "God: give me 10 digits and name and I will be your voice" , to me is trumped by "God how can I love those that you have purposefully brought into my life?" 😉 something that you do well Mr. Nathan Detweiler. While the other way sounds cool (novel) and would probably be powerful to the person on the other end of the line (if they could believe that it was not a prank) it would seem to be the rare exception of how God wanted to work. I don't know ANYone who has gotten random 10 & the right name. I know tons of people who love their friends and families in Jesus name and reach out to those in need. So I see what you are saying … its just that I really want to keep saying that God works in relationship. (which I know that you are OK with).

>Hey man, great thoughts. This is definitely an important theological lens that needs to be explored and implemented. I have thought about this more relational reading in light of my relatives from down in the south. They can at any time be racist, sexist, overly judgemental, or any combination of these, mostly to strangers. However, I have seen them be more gracious than God to their relatives. When my cousin over-dosed and died they went out to any length to convince themselves of his eternal resting place in heaven. If they had heard of this happening to any other kid they would have condemned them to hell without a second thought. I have often prayed that there theology would match this aspect of their day to day lives. Thanks for your reflections.

>Bo, my friend, this was awesome. I know we have talked about relationship before, but you have talked about it here in a beautiful way. Relationship is not just a "key" to following Jesus, nor is it simply and important "part" of the gospel or salvation. It is central, woven through the very fiber of the gospel. As you say, it is THE thing.I am struck by how the American Western church, for the most part, always speaks very highly of relationship. I have heard countless sermons and discussions in which relationship is described as vital, not only to the church but to the gospel. Yet something often seems to be missing. The more I thought about it the more I realized that for many within the church (read: me for much of my life), relationship is vital only as a means, a tool, or a nice, important, yet secondary thing. Relationship can help bring people to Jesus, help them hear the gospel, help them live in a more Kingdom centered way, yet at the end of the day, the work of Jesus is still seen in much more of a transaction like way. The work of Jesus is still seem in terms of guilt and sacrifice at is core, rather than relationship. When I read your stuff I started thinking about salvation and how I have grown up thinking about it, and I get a picture of the salvation that came through Jesus as kind of an inside out version of what I grew up with and briefly talked about above. There, a transaction (or any other atonement metaphor) is at the core of the salvation that came through Jesus, with relationship being a good way to help people toward that center. Now, I think much more of relationship as central to salvation, with atonement language a beautiful (and I think important) way of talking about and wrestling with this thing called salvation.Anyway, those are some thoughts. Hope you are doing well my friend.

>Great Biog. Bo – thanx for the link on FB. I love your insight on prayer and do believe that God is constantly putting people I know or have even just met on my heart to pray for. This happens to me all the time. It is all about relationship – and if he does put a person in my mind to pray for I also believe he is encouraging me to do more than pray but to actually reach out to the person – duh – relationship is so important. We should be praying for the people we love of course but we also need to be working on those relationships with full commitment. I think the reason people fear the relational aspect of this is sometimes due to that fear of full commitment. Just some thoughts – love you! Love to Christie

>Matt – that is some challenging stuff!! I am always amazed at how challenging a story can be. I makes me think of when Jesus said "What good is it if you only love those who love you?" You words are in my head right now… rummaging around like a kid in his grampa's attic.Luke- that thing about how much relationship is stressed in many evangelical churches but…. it is a means to an end. yikes. That hurts. I know that I have done that and called it 'evangelism' or some other spiritual term. But essentially I was doing the same thing that Amway people have done to me. ouch. MJ – I think that the WAY we talk about God and prayer is a BIG problem. Honestly. I think that way we picture it, the metaphors we use for it and how we participate in it are often NOT relational. It bugs me SO much. In fact, I would RAIL and RANT about it … if I were not so guilty of it. Thanks for the note. Say hi to Eddy boy 🙂

>I think I understand what Luke & Bo are saying, kind of like that saying in Young Life, "earn the right to be heard." Is that what you guys mean? I think it really comes down to the Spirit of God working and that isn't predictible, or at least not by me. He can move in relationships or around them, though we can't deny that showing love is central to the gospel.

>Melinda – I have good news and bad news…Good news: you are 100% right! that is exactly the kind of "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" that is being addressed. Yes. We really need to 'walk the walk' – then people will ask about 'the hope that we have' and then we can talk the talk.Bad news: I am afraid the YL is exactly the kind of "means to an end" evangelism that Luke was referencing 😦 Here is the thing with us evangelicals – we ARE up to something. We want people to pray a prayer with us and then be like us. which is o.k. on one level. BUT – and here is the bad thing – they KNOW it. They know that we are up to something. They can sense that we have an agenda. They tell people who do surveys on such matters that they FEEL like a project. I am afraid that this is a sort of 'Do what I say, not what I do' situation… I love the person down the street and I (secretly) desperately want them to know the love of Jesus like I have – for it is the greatest thing in my life (!!!) and in the whole universe that I can image – but if they think that I am loving them SO that they will love Jesus… then I may be acting counter-helpfully.This is why I have to change and love people because A) they are lovable B) God loves them. and a long long time later… if they are interested C) that I would love if they knew the love of Jesus like I know the love of Jesus – which the the greatest love I have know and , by far, the best part of my life.

>Bo,The night I came and visited new life, which was during 'jubilee' you came and spoke over me something which God spoke to you about my life…and it really impacted my perspective on a situation in which I felt trapped , in a way in which I had not looked at it before. You and I had never met before that night, and you were blown away by the fact that you had never had that happen to you prior to that evening. I was also deeply impacted by your sermon on love & marriage at my brother Aaron & Sarah Jenks' wedding ceremony. You have a gift from God, and that night at Jubilee when you spoke of the oak tree and how it was rotting at the roots and within its trunk…that tree was me, and I was in a very bad place relationally at the time. I thank you for also being open to God when he uses signs/wonders with strangers to reveal truths to that person, to then bring healing and freedom to their life.Jessica New York

>Oh Mama!!! I can NOT forget that 🙂 as far as this specific post goes – Two interesting things:1) You were in relationship with two people that loved your very much and prayed for you often. I feel like what God wanted to do that night was a result of the love that they had for you and willingness that you had to say "yes" to what God had for you. 2) I don't know if you read Nathan's post above .. but you would EXACTLY prove him right 🙂 God does work that way! I had never met you and when we prayed together I saw this Mantel with a picture above it. The picture was of the tree that you describe and the mantel was one that you knew RIGHT away because it was in your family and the painting was the same. That was WILD 🙂 It is impossible to say how happy I am that you wrote… and even more so how WILD it is that you happen to post on THIS topic (I don't even know if you meant to) because this story that you remind me of says that God IS interested and IS involved and IS … the 'yes' that we want to say yes to 🙂 what a pleasure to hear from you. Thank you so much for writing. You have rekindled a memory I had almost lost… thank you 😉

>My friend Sara sent me this note:Great Blog. It goes along with something God has been showing me recently. God craves intimacy with all of us. He yearns for us to know him on a deeper level. It is just a matter of us wanting to hear him and see him at this level. Once we allow ourselves to know him on this level it is amazing the things he will reveal to us! It is unbelievable to hear him call you by name. It is refreshing to have the holy spirit fill your soul and comfort you at your most desperate hour. It is breath taking to see the beauty in the gifts he has given us. It is comforting to know he waits for us with open arms to come before him at any moment. But there is more, he wants us to take it to the next level. To have this same type of relationship with other people. And then he wants us to show others how to have this type of realationship first with him and then with others. He wants us all to know the Joy of having an incrediably intimate relationship with him . And he wants us to know the joy of having this same type of relationship with others.

>Great stuff here! Bo, we’ve talked about this before, and since our initial conversation it’s become impossible for me to read the Bible and NOT see this relational aspect EVERYWHERE. Suddenly tricky areas (like Paul’s comments regarding slavery) make a lot more sense to me (I seem them as relational, submissive and subversive all at the same time)RE: Prayer – Do you think it’s possible that prayer for people we don’t know, and for situations that we cannot have influence in, still serves a relational purpose? This would exclude things like Haiti, where we could potentially go or send money, etc. A recent acquaintance requested a group of people to pray for his friend who had sent suicidal text messages to his wife and kid. So we did. There’s a relational connection there, but it’s a couple of degrees separate. There wasn’t anything we could do OTHER than pray. So I see two possibilities in these kinds of situations that are relational – one: God DOES sometimes respond to prayer…in this circumstance the prayers came about at all due to a series of relationships. Two: In that time of prayer, we were connecting with God’s heart towards the person and circumstances. If we found out this guy killed himself, we’d have grieved differently having prayed than if we’d just read about a suicide in the police beat. We had a deeper glimpse of how God feels about people, which as a follower of Christ is part of our conformity to him. If the news was good, we’d rejoice differently for the same reason. By the way, the news was good, they got to him in time. I think this might be a relational way to look at prayer in circumstances where there is nothing to do but pray.RE: the original sin – I’ve seen some writers refer to a fourth broken relationship, the relationship with self. Adam and Eve are suddenly ashamed of themselves and cover themselves. There’s a lot of psychology there, but I thought it’s an important and interesting aspect.Luke – I agree that often the way the church talks about relationship is as a bait-and-switch – establish relationships with people in order to get them (saved, to church, giving money, etc) It comes up especially in a lot of youth ministry resources I’ve read. When that happens to a person once suddenly that’s all they’ll see, and they’re rightly suspicious of anyone who openly talks about faith. The only way to move past it, and convince people that we’re with them because we like them and not because we want to convert them is…relationship. What if we stopped trying to ‘impact’ (which sounds like hitting), ‘influence’ (which sounds manipulative), or ‘invest’ (which expects a return) people? Those are some words that I think need to go. ‘Influence’ might be a circumstantial exception for leaders…but they’ve been INVITED to influence others by their position of leadership (or they should be).

>Joe- thank you SO much for the contribution 🙂 that was fantastic!Let me just comment on prayer. While incidents like you are talking about are rare, I would say two things:1) Obviously those prayers are good and fine (and I am glad the story ended OK) but I am proposing that those should not be the majority of our prayers. We should prayer for people we know in a normative way – not just in emergencies. 2) The reason that you knew about the situation in the first place was due to relationship (as you said) I think that it is noteworthy that somebody did say "We need to to pray for a guy named Mike who is going to commit suicide – God told me". In that scenario you would not have known that it turned out OK because you would'nt have had a mechanism for finding out (unless God told someone I suppose). But that would be a weird prayer meeting…I hope I made sense. I am certainly not against praying in the abnormal or the spectacular… I just want us to recognize that regular normal prayer for the ones we know by name … God works through that.I want touch on this more for the Friday Followup so let me know what you think 😉 thanks again for the great note!!

>Joe, I think you bring up some excellent points.@prayer. I think you are right on. I agree that prayer is at its core relational. But like you said, I think that does not mean that prayer can ONLY happen in the context of a personal relationship. I think of Jesus and his crazy idea to pray for our enemies. Some has the label of 'enemy' in our lives, chances our that relationship is strained and broken at best. Praying for them, in a way, forces us to step toward them, to shorten the distance between us, simply by the act of praying for them. Praying for someone is a way of standing with them. Even with enemies we don't know personally, praying for them forces us to stand closer to them, which is itself not relationship, but a step in that direction.@ 'bait and switch' relationship. I totally agree that those words need to go. I have never realized, first, how much can be implied by those words, and second, how much they are a part of my 'church vocabulary.' I have probably used them multiple times in the last week. I also realize how hard it is, especially for us who have grown up in the church, to think about relationship well. We all agree that relationship is vital, yet relationship is so easily co-opted by other things, by other ends. Because at the end of the day, I do think relationships to affect, influence, and impacts each other. They should. Yet how do we recognize and deal with the negative things inherent in those words that you mentioned? How do we live in relationship, recognize the importance of that connection to following Jesus and living a Kingdom centered life, yet not let relationship turn into simply a 'tool'? Or is it inevitable that we as human beings will always try and co-opt beautiful things like relationship for our own purposes?I know, lots of questions, but I am good post-modern, I like questions :)Luke